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Nehemiah 10 · a question people ask

Do the promises about marriage and the Sabbath (10:30-31) bind Christians today?

In the text

Nehemiah 10 records what these people swore, in their own voice: "we would not give our daughters to the peoples of the land, nor take their daughters for our sons" (10:30), and "we would not buy from them on the Sabbath" (10:31). It tells what they swore, not what others should do. The questions Christians ask of these verses are taken up elsewhere, with the main views and their verses. On the Sabbath: Exodus 20's honest question, Is the Sabbath command for Christians today? On marriages with the peoples of the land: Ezra 10's honest question, which begins with "To put away all the wives and those who are born of them" (Ezra 10:3) and asks how Christians read what was done there; both its views agree on the law set beside 10:30 below, "You shall not make marriages with them" (Deuteronomy 7:3). Neither is repeated here, and this study doesn't pick among their views or apply either promise to anyone today.

The verses

“and that we would not give our daughters to the peoples of the land, nor take their daughters for our sons; and if the peoples of the land bring wares or any grain on the Sabbath day to sell, that we would not buy from them on the Sabbath, or on a holy day; and that we would forego the seventh year crops and the exaction of every debt.”
Nehemiah 10:30-31 · World English Bible
““Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. You shall labor six days, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. You shall not do any work in it, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your livestock, nor your stranger who is within your gates; for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day, and made it holy.”
Exodus 20:8-11 · World English Bible
“Now therefore let’s make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives and those who are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God. Let it be done according to the law.”
Ezra 10:3 · World English Bible
“You shall not make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughter to his son, nor shall you take his daughter for your son.”
Deuteronomy 7:3 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Nehemiah 10

Nehemiah 10: Sealed and sworn

Nehemiah 10 isn't only a list of names: they seal the covenant written at the end of chapter 9, the rest of the people bind themselves with a curse and an oath, and the promises end at God's house: "We will not forsake the house of our God" (10:39), the house chapter 13 finds forsaken (13:11).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions